#SXSW 2013 #Influence Panel: How To Find, Engage, Empower People Who Can Change The Conversation

SXSW 2013 Panel: #influence

On Sunday, I attended a SXSW session that marks a turning point in the influence marketing conversation: the first really useful and serious discussion of what influence marketing is (and is not), how it works, and the types of tools needed to scale.

I arrived a few minutes late but it was clear that from the Twitter stream that I didn’t miss much beyond the usual debate at the beginning of the session: What is influence? How do you define and measure an influencer?

Luckily, things got much more interesting very quickly. The discussion shifted away from the usual debate over definitions and measurement to something much more interesting: how do you empower the people who are influential in the community you care about to spread your message?

How do you help your influencers craft and spread messages? That is the real question. Via @DebraA_Kaye #sxsw #influenceEvy Wilkins

Why does this matter? Because real influencers are people who can change the behavior of others who matter.

A focus for brands: an active and outspoken 10% can sway the rest of your audience/fans. Study via @ekaterina #influence #SXSWAdrienne Olds

#Influence speaker from Intel thinks passionate brand fans will create more content that’s more valuable than an "influencer" you pay #sxswlordylordy

In order to make that type of influence marketing work–and scale–you need the right tools, the ability to identify the small number of individuals who can change the course of a conversation, and the ability to give them the content that’s most relevant to them.

So many great #influence tools out there. @ekaterina uses Tellagence, also BranderatiTonia Ries

Next innovation: mass personalization of content based on who you listen to — @matthixson #influenceTonia Ries

But influence shifts and change–since communities and the relationships on which they are formed are dynamic things that evolve over time.

Interesting question around platform fatigue and #influence across platforms. Can you maintain influence as new platforms emerge? #sxswlordylordy

We’re heading back to the era of personal communication, it’s no longer the era of mass media. Relationships matter. #SXSW #InfluenceAshlee

Scale comes by understanding the communities better, and how they interact. @matthixson #influenceTonia Ries

One audience member asked about disclosure rules–wouldn’t it weaken the impact of a fan message if they have to disclose that they’re being paid or receiving a perk to act as an advocate for a brand?

The answer: perks and rewards are only one small piece of a true influence marketing strategy. The far greater emphasis should be put on building long-term relationships. And if you are receiving a perk, then you should disclose it, or you risk losing your authority and trust.

Q re disclosure: this isn’t just about bribing people-it’s about identifying people and bldg a relationship w them #influenceTonia Ries

Panel agrees that there *should* be disclosure if u are getting paid or incented to talk about you #influenceTonia Ries

Jure Klepic then previewed some influence marketing research that the Lucule team had prepared, and which they plan to release in a couple of weeks. I didn’t get copies of the slides, but if I do then I will add them to this post.

The key points from the data:

– people with mid-range Klout scores have greater impact than those with higher scores

– the context (time, content, etc.) of how a message is delivered is more important than the influence score of the sender

– blog posts carry more impact than tweets or messages posted to other social networks

Research: People with midrange influence scores got higher response than people with high scores #influenceTonia Ries

Reality is people choose who to be influenced by. It’s not the celebs, it’s your friends, those you trust & respect. #sxsw #InfluenceAshlee

How (content, context, time, etc) a message is delivered is more important than an actual influence score, according to #influence panel.lordylordy

It’s about how you craft & deliver messages to the group of people you care about. #popularity not important. authentic #influence is #sxswEvy Wilkins

@jkcallas professional SM Influencers game the whole system . That gives them diminished credibility. #sxsw #influencePatricia Wilson

If you’re interested in keeping up with influence marketing trends, I highly recommend you follow all 4 of the panelists (listed in the tweet below). It was one of the most interesting conversations on the topic I’ve ever heard.

Hi @dannybrown:disqus you really would have loved the conversation. Smart people on the panel — and in the audience. I ended up hanging out for another 2 hours just talking to everyone in the hallway. (And nearly fainting from hunger since I hadn’t had breakfast yet after the typical late night out at SXSW, but that’s a different story…)

I feel like that’s true across the industry right now — so many more conversations at SXSW this year were focused on real business value, vs just what’s cool. Hope to see that moving forward at other conferences, too…